Triple The Win

I am not sure what it is about the Seattle Storm and the Phoenix Mercury, but whenever these two teams play, they bring out the best in each other and the games tend to be very competitive. So competitive, that they almost always run into overtime. Wednesday’s matinee performance down in Phoenix was no exception, going into three overtime periods before Sue Bird’s clutch three pulled out the win for the visiting Storm.

In many ways, the game shouldn’t have gone into extra periods, as both teams had a chance to win it in both the fourth quarter and in the early overtime periods. The Storm just needed to inbounds a pass in the 2nd overtime, but a bobble by Sue and a cagey veteran move by Taurasi as she made a motion to shoot the ball as Swin Cash closed in on her trying to intentionally foul. Diana’s three free throws sent it into the third period.

Speaking of Taurasi, she was phenomenal again. There are games where Dee just seems to hit almost every shot and today was one of those days. Her 44 points are the high point in the WNBA this season and only a few away from the all-time WNBA record. She played an incredible 49 minutes, and only Sue Bird played more at 50! Lauren Jackson paced the Storm with 31 points and 18 rebounds.

But it was really a team effort, especially when Sue and Swin started off as cold as they did. Tanisha Wright needed to have her best game of the season, scoring 20 points and handing out 6 assists. Bird eventually got a bit hotter as the game wore on, and she ended up with 14 points and 8 assists. The bench helped out with 22 points and 46 minutes of spelling the starters.

There is a very good chance that Phoenix and Seattle are going to face off in the Western Conference Championship later this year, so beating them yet again in Phoenix will help the Storm gain a bit of confidence that they can beat last year’s champs. But you can bet any game between these two teams is going to be a barnburner and very, very entertaining at the very least.

The Storm now moves on the Minnesota, where the Lynx just knocked off the Eastern leading Dream today. Minnesota is a very different team than the one the Storm beat earlier this season. They have Brunson and Augustus in the line-up now, and Whalen is starting to mesh with her teammates much better. With the Storm coming off this marathon game, it will be interesting to see if they can get enough rest to match up with the Lynx and further distance themselves from the rest of the West.